How Much Carbon Will It Cost to Read This Story?
Just how significant is the internet’s carbon footprint?
Why MLK Believed Jazz Was the Perfect Soundtrack for Civil Rights
Jazz, King declared, was the ability to take the “hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph.”
What We Lose When We Lose Indigenous Knowledge
By mistaking a culture’s history for fantasy, or by disrespecting the wealth of Indigenous knowledge, we're keeping up a Columbian, colonial tradition.
Oscar Wilde’s Pamphlet: “Children in Prison and Other Cruelties of Prison Life”
Wilde's description is heart-wrenching, but that doesn't hold him back from the usual wit and drama that characterize his writing.
To Predict the Role of Fake News in 2020, Look to Canada
Canada has taken steps to address the potential for online misinformation ("fake news") in its upcoming election, but the internet changes rapidly.
The Ancient Art of Brewing with Stale Bread
Brewers are once again making beer from things that typically end up in one’s household trash, a 7,000-year-old custom.
Nobody Really Knows Why We Dream
An extensive literature review reveals a startling lack of consensus around why we dream, though neurologists have made important discoveries.
Noise, Xenophobia, and Viking Women
Well-researched stories from Wired, The Conversation, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
The Columbian Exchange Should Be Called The Columbian Extraction
Europeans were eager to absorb the starches and flavors pioneered by the indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere.
The Pious Undead of Medieval Europe
Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg's eight-volume history contained stories of the living dead—and, he believed, proof of the Christian resurrection.